Thursday, February 13, 2014

Valentine´s Special: Sweet Treat.

Love songs, old movies, romantic dinners followed by romantic walks, roses and red hearts represent what Valentine's day is all about. This special day cannot be celebrated without some great food made with that special and magical ingredient called love.

Drawing inspiration from Valentine and all the images that spring into your mind when this holiday is mentioned, I decided to make adorable cupcakes shaped like hearts and roses and serve them with a red sauce made with either strawberries, raspberries or sour cherries as the perfect accompaniment for the sweet vanilla cakes.

I love sour cherries. Their tart flavor and slight sweetness makes the perfect sauce to go with the vanilla cake, the marriage of flavors is blessed by none other than Cupid himself!

Unfortunately fresh cherries are very difficult to find out of season, but luckily, the jarred ones are available year round in supermarkets. Just pick a jar of the brand you love the most and with minimal effort you will have the perfect Valentine sauce.

For the cupcakes you need:

110 g soft butter

100 g sugar (I used vanilla-infused white sugar)

2 eggs at room temperature

120 ml milk

1 pod of vanilla or 2 tsp of vanilla essence

8 g baking powder (around 2 tsp)

dash of salt

Firt sift the dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar then add the eggs, one at a time. When all combined fold 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 of the milk, then 1/3 of flour, rest of the milk and finish with the last 1/3 of the flour.

Pour the batter in the cupcakes tins and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, the baking time varies between ovens and size of cupcakes. When baked, the cake must spring slightly to the touch of your finger.

For the sauce you need:

250 g sour cherry (or any other berry fruit)

50 g sugar

Mix the sugar and fruits and let them simmer on a low heat for about 20 minutes. Serve the sauce when it's cooled.

I prepared a simple cream cheese frosting with just cream cheese, a little bit of powdered sugar and vanilla. A little bit of this frosting goes a long way and are perfect to top and decorate these mini cakes with or to decorate your serving plates.

To serve the cupcakes, pour some of the sauce on a plate, add the cake and decorate with the frosting. Add as much or as little as you want of the frosting. Personally, I piped the frosting into tiny rosettes.